Gold standard validation of the Intelligibility in Context Scale

This week an important paper has been published by authors in the US who have validated the Intelligibility in Context Scale (McLeod, Harrison & McCormack, 2012) with the gold standard measure of transcription intelligibility scores. Here is the article and abstract: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/11/1540

Soriano, J. U., Olivieri, A., & Hustad, K. C. (2021). Utility of the Intelligibility in Context Scale for predicting speech intelligibility of children with cerebral palsy. Brain Sciences, 11(11), 1540. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/11/1540 

The Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) is a widely used, efficient tool for describing a child’s speech intelligibility. Few studies have explored the relationship between ICS scores and transcription intelligibility scores, which are the gold standard for clinical measurement. This study examined how well ICS composite scores predicted transcription intelligibility scores among children with cerebral palsy (CP), how well individual questions from the ICS differentially predicted transcription intelligibility scores, and how well the ICS composite scores differentiated between children with and without speech motor impairment. Parents of 48 children with CP, who were approximately 13 years of age, completed the ICS. Ninety-six adult naïve listeners provided orthographic transcriptions of children’s speech. Transcription intelligibility scores were regressed on ICS composite scores and individual item scores. Dysarthria status was regressed on ICS composite scores. Results indicated that ICS composite scores were moderately strong predictors of transcription intelligibility scores. One individual ICS item differentially predicted transcription intelligibility scores, and dysarthria severity influenced how well ICS composite scores differentiated between children with and without speech motor impairment. Findings suggest that the ICS has potential clinical utility for children with CP, especially when used with other objective measures of speech intelligibility.

Multilingual university students’ perceived English proficiency, intelligibility and participation

The following manuscript has been accepted for publication:

Blake, H. L., Verdon, S. & McLeod, S. (2021, in press March). Multilingual university students’ perceived English proficiency, intelligibility and participation. Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech. 

Here is the abstract:

This paper reports on 137 multilingual students enrolled at 14 English-speaking Australian universities who completed a 27-item online survey investigating the relationship between perceived English proficiency, intelligibility, and their academic, social, and vocational participation. Open-ended responses described strategies used to enhance spoken English. Participants came from 44 countries and spoke 49 home languages. Self-ratings of English communication skills were significantly affected by age, English experience, number of languages spoken, and home language. Participants reported spoken English proficiency impacted participation; however, results highlighted lack of awareness of intelligibility as an essential component of spoken language proficiency. Although environmental factors (e.g., more time using English in conversations) were associated with higher self-ratings of proficiency, participants preferred using individual strategies (e.g., listening/repeating) to support English intelligibility rather than social interactions with native speakers. The results demonstrate the importance of conversation practice in language learning to increase proficiency and confidence, as well as participation.

https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JMBS/issue/view/1810

Measuring intelligibility in signed languages

The following manuscript has just been accepted for publication: Crowe, K., Marschark, M., & McLeod, S. (2019, in press March). Measuring intelligibility in signed languages. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics.
Here is the abstract:

Intelligibility of spoken languages is a widely discussed construct; however, intelligibility as it pertains to signed languages has rarely been considered. This study provides an initial investigation of the construct of intelligibility in American Sign Language (ASL) and evaluates potential measures for self-report and expert ratings of sign intelligibility that examined frequency of understanding, amount of understanding, and ease of understanding. Participants were 66 college students (42 Deaf, 24 hearing) who had self-rated ASL skills ranging from poor to excellent. Participants rated their own intelligibility in ASL and then provided a signed language sample through a picture description task. Language samples were reviewed by an expert rater and measures of intelligibility were completed. Results indicated that expert ratings of sign intelligibility across all measures were significantly and positively correlated. Understanding of the signer was predicted by amount of understanding, frequency of understanding, and ASL production skills, while understanding the picture being described was predicted by ease of understanding and ASL grammar skills. Self- and expert ratings of sign intelligibility using the ASL version of the Intelligibility in Context Scale were not significantly different. Self-report of sign intelligibility for viewers of different familiarity using the ICS-ASL was found not to be feasible due many participants not being in contact with ASL users in the relationships defined by the measure. In conclusion, this preliminary investigation suggests that sign intelligibility is a construct worthy of further investigation.

The research was supported by the Grant Development Funding Scheme from the Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University and Kate was supported by an Australian-American Postdoctoral Fulbright Scholarship.

Exploring multilingual speakers’ perspectives on their intelligibility in English

The following manuscript has been accepted for publication. It forms part of Helen Blake's PhD research:
Blake, H. L., Verdon, S. & McLeod, S. (2019, in press February). Exploring multilingual speakers’ perspectives on their intelligibility in English. Speech, Language and Hearing.
50 free copies are available from this link: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/eJF8jisEZg7UkRtFFBIM/full?target=10.1080/2050571X.2019.1585681
Here is the abstract:

Multilingual speakers’ ability to communicate effectively and intelligibly in the language of their country of residence is crucial to their participation. This study explored multilingual speakers’ motivations for improving their intelligibility in English and their perceptions of potential barriers and facilitators to enhancing intelligibility. Participants were multilingual students and staff at 14 Australian universities. Extended response data from 137 survey responses were combined with seven semi-structured interviews, thematically analysed using the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health as a conceptual framework, and coded using NVivo software. Three overarching themes were: motivations, barriers, and facilitators. Themes that emerged under motivations were meeting their own and others’ expectations and career aspirations. Themes that emerged under barriers to intelligibility were lack of self-awareness of reduced English intelligibility, use of ineffective strategies (e.g., fast speech rate to disguise pronunciation difficulties), language differences, lack of opportunity to practise English, participants’ perceptions of others’ negative attitudes to their English skills, and challenging conversational partners. Facilitators to intelligibility were emotional support from others, beneficial strategies (e.g., confirming listener understanding), and opportunities to practice. The results highlight the importance of supporting multilingual speakers’ efforts to improve their English intelligibility. An environment with barriers such as lack of opportunity to practise English may restrict an individuals’ performance and participation, while facilitators such as support from others may increase participation. This study will inform the understanding of speech-language pathologists engaged in Intelligibility Enhancement, as well as SLPs working with multilingual speakers in any context.

Speech Intelligibility Clinic at The University of Newcastle

This week I visited Helen Blake who leads the Speech Intelligibility Clinic at the University of Newcastle. Helen is my PhD student and some of her PhD is based around her work in the clinic. She also works in the clinic one day per week supervising speech pathology students providing intelligibility enhancement to staff and students. They also support the students at ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students).

Helen brings a wide range of specialist skills to her role and studies. As well as being a speech pathologist, she has been an air traffic control standarization officer, and has learned  nine languages (Latin, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Mandarin, Hebrew). As part of her PhD Helen has already published two journal articles and has written an encyclopedia entry:

• Blake, H. L. & McLeod, S. (2017, accepted for publication). Intelligibility enhancement. In M. J. Ball & J. S. Damico (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of human communication sciences and disorders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 
• Blake, H. L., Bennetts Kneebone, L. & McLeod, S. (2017, in press). The effect of oral English proficiency on humanitarian migrants’ experiences of settling in Australia. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. doi: 10.1080/13670050.2017.1294557 
• Blake, H. L., McLeod, S., Verdon, S. & Fuller, G. (2016, in press). The relationship between spoken English proficiency and participation in higher education, employment, and income from two Australian censuses. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. doi: 10.1080/17549507.2016.1229031

While I was visiting the University of Newcastle, I also gave a lecture to staff and students who were on campus and via video conference to clinical sites around Newcastle (and beyond). The attendees were enthusiastic about the free resources available on the Multilingual Children's Speech website.

Helen (at the far end of the table) with speech pathology students at the Speech Intelligibility Clinic

Some of the audience who attended my presentation at the University of Newcastle

University of Newcastle Speech Pathology Showcase

Helen Blake has presented two papers at the University of Newcastle (UON) Speech Pathology Showcase today. The topics she presented were:

• Speech Intelligibility Clinic 
• Multilingual speakers' participation in Australia 

Her papers showcased work from her PhD and her work as the clinical educator overseeing the Speech Intelligibility Clinic for multilingual staff, students and community members.

There were 29 presentations and nearly 70 attendees across the day including UON speech pathology staff, colleagues (local speech pathologists working in public and private systems), higher degree by research students, undergraduate UON speech pathology students, undergraduate UON students from different faculties, UON staff from different faculties and services (e.g., UON Global), UON Alumni and members of the community.